Getting Another Chance
by DisguisedasInnocent
Summary: It happens in the middle of a routine investigation. Which, when Gail thinks about it, is when most of the bad things actually happen. In the middle of nowhere, without a second plan or back up. However, this time she doesn't know whether she will get another chance to say the things she's never said.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: This story will come in a series of parts. Please, read and enjoy! (And if you wish to take the time to tell me what you think I'd be most appreciative!)_

* * *

Icy blue eyed slid closed, the woman's jaw clenching hard as her fingers pressed against a small wound on her stomach probing the edges of the entrance wound cautiously in an attempt to assess the damage. Gail huffed out a long breath, hissing in pain and disgust as blood rushed out of the wound to coat the end of her fingers, dribbling across her palm and down onto her trouser legs. "Fuck," The woman growled out angrily, her eyes darting around the small brick walled room in an attempt to find something useful – her partner lay unconscious against the opposite lay, his head tipped back to rest against the bricks as his eyes fluttered underneath immobile eyelids. "Double fuck."

The blonde haired woman breathed in steadily, shifting her hand on her stomach in order to press the broad flat length of her palm over the wound, pressing to create pressure. Blood continued to dribble steadily, but instead of flowing freely out of the wound, it seeped through the gaps in Gail's fingers. The number fingers of the woman's other hand drifted down to the thigh pocket of her trousers feeling the ridge of the button before sliding it open and dipping her hand into the folds of fabric. Her fingers clasped around her phone, useless without signal, but intact.

Her fingertips slid over the phone's screen, blood smearing across its surface as she inputted her passcode to wake the device up before clicking on the message icon. Her lungs ached – screaming for relief from the pain while her muscles twitched and roared in agony. Gail clenched her jaw tightly, swallowing the sounds of her pain in order to keep an ear out for signs of movement on the other side of the door.

The message icon flashed for a moment and then the screen slid into a pile of messages – series of communications between various people, Traci and Chris at the top of the most recent messages but one stood alone in the sheer volume of texts – Holly. Gail pressed her thumb against the woman's name and pressed down on it to open the string of messages, tapping the bottom of the screen in order to begin a new message.

"I'm sorry." She said at the beginning, the corners of her mind darkening as she struggled to keep her fingers flowing steadily. "Didn't want to tell you this way, might not get another chance though, so, I love you."

Gail tapped her thumb over the send icon, her jaw tightening as a wave of pain flooded out of her gut and up the length of her spine bursting out of her lips in a low groan. The woman shoved her phone back into the confines of her pocket before shifting her left hand to the wall while keeping her right firmly covering the wound. Gail braced her body against the wall, pressing the flat of her feet against the ground as she pushed her shoulders back into the bricks using her thighs to slide up the wall until she stood leaning against it.

"Get up," Gail growled softly, shuffling across the floor to where Dov sat propped up against the wall. "Come on Dov, I need you."

The man groaned quietly, his head lulling forwards in response to Gail's hand on his shoulder before snapping backwards as his eyes opened. "What the fuck?" He yelped loudly, lifting his head to the back of his neck to rub across the back of his skull. "What hit me?"

"A really big guy," Gail answered with a slight shrug of her shoulders. "Before his friend shot me."

Dov's eyes blinked rapidly for a minute before flickering up and down the length of Gail's body in order to locate the wound, frowning at the size of the bloodstain covering the front of her shirt. "Back up?"

"They broke our radios." The woman answered, jerking her head sideways to a pile of metallic and electronic pieces that lay in the corner of the room. "And there's no signal on our phones in here."

"Probably why they decided to lock us up in here," Dov mused quietly, forcing the pain that pounded behind his eyelids down as he twisted onto his knees and pushed upwards into a standing position. "Which implies that they don't want the time of killing Police on their record, so they're probably going to come back and let us out sometime after they've packed up their shit."

Gail gritted her teeth and nodded, feeling her abdominal muscles shift and flex before another gush of blood escaped the wound. "They'll check on us soon, we've been in here about an hour now."

Dov nodded his head and huffed, rubbing the back of his neck. "We rush them at the doors?" He asked glancing between Gail's stomach and the single narrow framed doorway that led into the brick walled room.

"We're not going to get another chance to get out of here and we can't call for backup so," Gail allowed the sentence to trail off into silence as she inclined her head in affirmation. "It's the best chance we've got."

The dark haired man nodded, moving to stand on one side of the doorway. "It opens inwards." He murmured, his eyes assessing the hinges for a second. "Why don't you get behind the door and then you can try to slam it in their faces when they open it. I'll come in second and hope I don't get the big guy."

For fifteen minutes, the pair leaned against the wall on opposite sides of the doorway, exchanging hushed words and jokes as they each tried to ignore the growing bloodstain on Gail's shirt and the ever-increasing pallor of her cheeks. The pair fell into silence at the sound of approaching footsteps, their ears strained to pick up the sound of conversation on the other side of the door.

"They're not talking," A man's gruff voice muttered.

"One should still be unconscious." Another man answered his voice higher and smoother than the first man's voice with a more heavily accented tone. "The other is probably out too."

"Where exactly did you shoot her?"

"Stomach," He answered. "Why?"

"Fuck." The first man grunted stepping forwards quickly, his hand twisting the lock on the door before thrusting it open. "I don't want to go down for murdering a copper!"

Gail's eyes met Dov's gaze across the doorway, the paired shared a brief nod before focusing on the door and the incoming men. Gail gripped the door's handle hard, tugging it backwards out of the man's hold forcing him off balance before shoving her entire weight against the door in order to slam it into the man's body forcing him backwards and into the second man. Then she dropped the door, swinging it open to allow Dov to charge through the doorway into the men, his shoulder slamming into the second man's stomach winding him and forcing him to the ground as Gail's foot thrust into the first man's crotch. She wheezed heavily as the force of movement encouraged another gush of blood out of her stomach but bent down regardless and forced the man onto his back before securing his hands looking upwards just in time to observe Dov handcuffing the other man.

Dov glanced backwards at Gail, nodding his head as he watched the girl collapse backwards into the wall leaning against it heavily before twisting on his heel to speed out of the factory and into the forecourt where their squad car sat.

"10-32 Units Needed at Clydedale Factories, 10-52 Officer down and in need of immediate medical attention." Dov spoke quickly into the radio, his free hand reaching down to grip the boot release catch waiting for Control to confirm support before scurrying around the back of the car to get the first aid kit.

The dark haired man rushed back into the factory, his eyes glancing briefly at the two men handcuffed securely on the ground before striding across to where Gail stood leaning against the wall. "I'm going to have to get that shirt off." He murmured softly, waving his hand at the bulletproof vest and the thick cotton shirt that clung to the woman's shoulders. "It's a pity that it went underneath the vest."

"You're telling me." Gail huffed out painfully, the fingers of her left hand undoing the buckles around her side, allowing Dov to undo the pair that sat on her shoulders before he lifted the vest upwards and placed it neatly on the ground. His hands gripped the middle of her button up shirt, waiting for the woman to nod before ripping it sharply, buttons flying off in multiple directions before assessing the size of the wound.

"It looks clean," He murmured, slipping his fingers around to Gail's back, searching for evidence of an exit wound but finding smooth pale flesh instead. "No exit though."

"Awesome," Gail groaned her eyes slipping closed as she struggled to take in a long deep breath without her stomach muscles fluttering in response. "Another surgery, go me."

Dov rolled his eyes, kneeling on the ground to open the first aid kit and pull out a pack of gauze and bandages. "Press this against the wound." He murmured, holding the cloth up to Gail's fingers and waiting for her to grasp the supplies before reaching into the bag and tugging out a second package. The pair pressed the gauze into the wound, packing it around the oozing entrance before Dov wrapped a long bandage around the woman's waist, tugging it in tight to offer a limited amount of protection to the packing before securing it. "Help is on the way." He murmured.

"Great, maybe they can get here before I pass out. Really don't want to do that a crime scene." Gail said her voice rough with pain and exhaustion. "Because this would make a really crap place to die. It's too cold and there aren't enough people around to cry for the loss of my awesomeness."

"Don't even joke about that." Dov growled out angrily, his eyes snapping upwards from securing the bandages to meet Gail's eyes fiercely. "Don't."

Holly hummed softly in the back of her throat as she picked up her scalpel, twirling the metal instrument around her fingers before grasping it properly before hunching over the autopsy table in the middle of the morgue. She began the long sweeping cut of the Y incision, avoiding the obvious entrance wound in the man's upper chest as she cut through his cut initially following the same line a second time in order to slice through the muscle underneath.

Dark brown eyes flickered away from the man's body, Holly's mobile phone buzzing softly on the surface of her desk, as her hands reached into the man's chest to grope around his heart. She listened for the sound of follow up buzzes, which would indicate a second or third message, before continuing with the autopsy removing the man's heart easily. "Subject is in his mid to late thirties and it would appear that he's yet to suffer from any form of coronary heart disease. There are no indications of any kind to suggest that he did not die from the gunshot wound to the upper right quadrant of the chest cavity – initial investigation shows damage to the surrounding blood vessels."

A knock on the door prompted Holly to lift her head away from the man's chest, her hands tucked neatly underneath his ribcage in an attempt to feel out the bullet lodged between his lungs and the bone. "Hello?" The woman called out inquiringly, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion when the door opened to reveal Officer Diaz standing on the other side.

"Is it all right for me to come in?" He asked softly, tilting his head to the side, nodding towards the body.

"Yes," Holly answered quickly, a flush rushing up her cheeks as she shifted her hands backwards out of the man's chest before waving towards her desk. "Just give me a moment to cover him up and I'll be right with you."

Chris nodded slowly, a small smile covering his lips as he watched the way that Holly fluttered around the dead man's body, closing the sides of his chest before pulling a medical sheet up to cover his body. He waited until she ripped the gloves off her hands and moved to perch on the edge of her desk before beginning to speak.

"Holly," He murmured softly, his voice gentle and soothing as he spoke. "There's been an incident involving Gail."

The Doctor's face grumbled quickly, her shoulders slumping forward as her hands gripped the fabric of her trousers hard, tears rising to her eyes. "Oh my god," She whimpered as she bit down on her bottom lip. "Is she all right? I mean… She's not?"

"No, she's not dead." Chris said reassuringly, lifting his hands to cover Holly's hands. "But she's not in a good condition. She's in surgery right now to remove the bullet, Doctors said that it missed anything major but it's still embedded in her stomach and that it's a delicate operation."

Holly breathed in deeply – her mind providing her with multiple different scenarios for Gail's injury – a nicked artery or damage to the stomach wall. "It missed everything?"

"That's what the Docs said." Chris answered squeezing Holly's hands. "I'm just here to take you to the hospital. You know she's going to want you there."

"Yes, of course." Holly murmured swallowing hard to shove the lump down her throat her eyes flickering around the small room, sliding over the man's body on the autopsy table and the sight of her medical journal laying haphazardly on the edge of her desk from where Gail thumbed through it on her break the previous week. "Right, I… I'll just put Mr Doe back in the drawer."

Chris glanced backwards at the body lying on the table before smiling reassuringly. "I'll be right here."

Dov sat heavily in one of the many plastic chairs that belonged in the hospital waiting room his hands braced on his knees as he sat with his head tipped backwards and his eyes closed. The man breathed in heavily through his nose, blowing the air back out of his mouth in a loud sigh before lifting one hand to his face. However, the man's hand paused in mid-air in front of his nose, his nose screwed up as his eyes opened to focus on the deep crimson stain that covered his fingertips.

The man swallowed hard, blinking rapidly to clear his vision as he shifted in the chair to stare at the dried blood that covered his hands. "Oh god," The man whimpered, biting down on his bottom lip to suppress the urge to allow a tear to trickle down his cheek, his heart shuddering in his chest.

"Do you need help Sir?" A soft voice asked gently prompting Dov to lift his eyes away from his hands and look upwards into a pair of soft green eyes.

"I…" He swallowed hard. "Just something to clean this off with, I really can't go anywhere."

"Ok." The woman smiled reassuring, stepping away from his side before reappearing a minute later with a handful of soft wipes. "Is there anyone we can call for you?"

"They're already on the way." Dov answered, shrugging his shoulders as he wiped the blood away from his hands. "Though, one of them might have taken a pit-stop with the bastard that shot Gail."

"Oh, that was your partner earlier?" The Nurse asked lifting her eyebrow as her lips pursed.

"Yes." Dov answered, his eyes shifting to the double doors on the other side of the waiting room, hidden behind them the emergency room and the trauma bay Gail's body lay in. "She's back there."

Holly fiddled with her phone, turning it over in her hands as she sat in the passenger seat of Chris's squad car, idly watching as he cut through the traffic with the sirens blazing loudly and the lights flashing brightly. Holly twisted the phone over in her hands, her thumb pressing the home button to wake up the screen, her eyes noting the message icon as she tapped out her four-digit passcode. The dark haired woman swallowed hard as the message flashed up onto the screen, Officer Crankypants and an image of Gail's face including her raised eyebrow and half smile filling the screen for a handful of seconds before fading into a small message icon. Holly tapped the message apprehensively, rubbing the fingers of her left hand across her jaw and she scanned the contents of the message.

"_I'm sorry. Didn't want to tell you this way, might not get another chance though, so, I love you."_

Holly swallowed hard, pushing down the sob that rose up her throat as tears gathered and dripped down her cheeks splattering against the screen of her phone and her lap. The tears continued to trickle down the contours of her face as Gail's words reverberated through her mind, her brain providing Gail's voice to whisper the words between her ears repeatedly while her heart throbbed at the idea of the implication of those words.

Chris's hand reached across the gearshift, his fingers curling around Holly's knee, squeezing gently as he continued to drive through the traffic providing the only comfort that he could.

Dov's bloodshot eyes shifted away from his hands – his mind filling in the gaps to provide an image of Gail's blood staining his fingers despite no dried blood remaining on his palms – to the thumping sound of boots in the entry hall of the hospital. He lifted one hand slowly into the air and opened his mouth to call Chris over before noticing the dark haired woman at the other officer's side, his hands shuddering in his chest at the tear stained streaks that ran down her cheeks.

"Chris!" The man yelled out loudly, shifting in the seat to stand upright. "Holly."

"Dov," Chris exclaimed, spinning on his heel to move over to the man's side, his hand slapping against his shoulder when he arrived. "Is there any news?"

"Nothing since she went into surgery." Dov answered with a shrug of his shoulders and an apologetic glint in his eyes. "I doubt we'll get anything for at least another hour."

"Depends on the level of damage," Holly muttered collapsing heavily into a chair at the side of the pair of men. "And if there's any vessel damage they need to repair."

"She'll be all right," Dov murmured softly, taking a seat at Holly's side while Chris settled into the chair on her other side. "She's a fighter."

"I know." Holly murmured, her lips lifting into a half-hearted smile as she struggled not to cry. "She has to live so I can kill her."

Chris's eyebrows furrowed in confusion while Dov's lips pursed. "What did she do?" The smaller man asked his tone inquiring and confused. "I mean, apart from get shot."

"Told me she loved me over text." Holly answered, a huffed breath followed by a wheeze leaving her mouth as another tear erupted from her eye. "At the same time as she bled out."

"Oh." Dov swallowed hard, his eyes flickering between Holly's broken expression and Chris's tight jawline. "She's like that."

"I know, but I need to tell her too." Holly whimpered, biting down on her bottom lip, sucking it back into her mouth as she struggled to control the sobs rising up her throat. "She doesn't get to die without me telling her that I love her too."

"Hold onto that thought." Dov murmured, rubbing his hand up the length of Holly's forearm before patting the woman's shoulder and tugging her into a gentle embrace. "And make sure to yell at her when she gets out of surgery."

"I will." Holly whimpered feeling the weight of the hospital walls surrounding her, crushing her chest until she struggled to breathe. There had only been one other occasion in the course of their relationship when Holly had been required to visit the hospital and that had only been because Gail was intoxicated on oxycodone and unable to drive. This time she lay on a surgical bed with her stomach wall sliced open and the true extent of her injuries unknown.


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: This has taken me a long time to get written and I'm sorry for that, I've been having major problems getting it started. There's probably another one chapter, perhaps two chapters, to come before this story is complete. I hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading._

* * *

"I'm sorry."

Those two words reverberated through Holly's mind relentlessly pulsing around her thoughts, bouncing off the walls of her skull in order to repeat in a never-ending pattern intermixed with images of Gail's smiling face and blood-stained fingers. The sound of her heart beating, pushing blood through her veins, disappeared into white noise static as the volume of her thought's increased exponentially blocking out all sound from the waiting room. The pressure of Chris's fingers curled around Holly's knee kept her centred in the waiting room, her left leg tapping up and down to the anxious rhythm pounding through her skull while Dov's arm curled around her shoulders reassuringly.

"Didn't want to tell you this way, might not get another chance."

Those two sentences flashed across Holly's vision endlessly, an image of the screen of her phone fixed into her thoughts with the pixels pulsing like strobe lights to spell out of the words. Flashes of Gail's soft smile flickering in the corners of her eyes, throbbing in time with the ache that settled in her chest, a hand gripping her heart tightly squeezing until the pressure burst through her veins and a sob rose up her throat.

Chris's voice disappeared into a soft rumble of reassuring murmurings as his hand tightened around Holly's knee, listening to the heart wrenching sobs that rose up the woman's throat to bubble out of her lips. "She'll be all right." He whispered softly, pressing his lips to her forehead softly, his eyes flickering upwards to focus on Dov's lost expression. "She's going to be fine."

"I love you."

Holly had often wondered what it would take to break her heart.

It wasn't that she wanted to break but on a purely scientific level, the idea that a phrase or a sentence could manage to reduce her to body rocking sobs intrigued the woman. However, now that she felt the pain of those words blossom through her veins, the idea and the interest felt hollow.

The reply sat on the tip of Holly's tongue, desperate to leave her mouth on the end of every heaving breath. "I love you too."

Dov glanced down sideways, tightening his arm around Holly's shoulders at the sound of the woman's broken voice, her words trickling into his ear reducing the throb of his heartbeat to background noise. "She knows." He said, his voice breaking through Holly's thoughts, prompting the woman to lift her head to regard him with a watery stare. "Trust me, she knows you love her."

"I've never told her." Holly whispered softly, biting down on her bottom lip as she looked into Dov's blue eyes – Gail's icy blue stare replaced the man's soft blue eyes before fading back into Dov's gentle warmth. "I almost did, but I never said it."

"She knows." Dov said his voice rough but determined. "She's the most perspective person I know, she knew before today."

Holly nodded slowly allowing her lips to curl upwards into a small smile as she leant her head against Dov's shoulder. "Thank you."

"Any time," The man answered softly, pressing his lips against the crown of Holly's head. "Gail would kill me if she thought I wasn't taking care of her girl when she couldn't."

"Or handcuff us naked to the railings outside the precinct and send pictures to everyone in our phone book." Chris chuckled from the other side of Holly's body prompting the woman to flick her eyes to the side.

"That sounds like something she's threatened to do to you." She murmured softly, biting down on her lower lip.

"It is." Dov answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "Word for word for actually, the threat of my naked ass being on display is enough to get me to remember most things."

Holly laughed softly, her body rocking with amusement as her brown eyes danced with happiness. "Of course she did." She murmured softly, shaking her head. "It's Gail."

"Right," Dov grinned, his eyes flickering towards the clock on the wall of the waiting room before shifting down to meet Chris's gaze. "But we'd be here even if she hadn't threatened us, you make her happy Holly, she's brighter with you. After Nick and everything, she got duller, she thought we didn't see but we did and you brought her out of that which means you have us no matter what. You're part of the team now."

"That…" Holly's throat tightened preventing words rising out of her throat. The woman leaned to the side, pressed her lips to Dov's cheek softly before resting her head back against the man's shoulder. "Thank you."

"Are you here for Gail Peck?" A man's voice cut into Holly's throat, prompting the woman to lift her head upwards to regard the man's face, taking in the sight of the surgical cap sitting on the crown of his head in accompaniment to the green scrubs covering his body.

"Yes." Holly breathed out softly, sitting up straight in her chair. "Is she all right?"

"The surgery went as well as can be expected given the length of time between the injury and Miss Peck's arrival in hospital." The Doctor answered with a small smile. "She's stable at the moment and on the post-op ward, we're bringing her out of the anaesthesia and then we'll be moving her to the recovery ward."

"Thank God," Holly sighed, her eyes sliding closed as relief thundered through her body, pushing the negative thoughts out of her mind as a weight lifted off her chest. "Can we see her?"

"I'd prefer to limit the number of visitors at the moment," The Doctor answered, his lips twisting into a frown as he glanced at the two police officers at Holly's side. "You can go one at a time or one person can stay with Miss Peck until she's moved to the recovery ward."

"Holly, you should go." Chris murmured softly, squeezing the woman's knee softly. "We'll call the others and let them know that she's got through surgery, I can swing by the apartment and get some of her things for you?"

"I…" Holly swallowed hard, the corners of her lips lifting upwards as she nodded. "She'd probably like that. I know she hates hospital gowns."

Chris chuckled and nodded his head. "Right, text me the details of the ward when she's moved and I'll bring the stuff up to you, and probably the other half of the precinct."

"Traci is going to want to come up there pretty soon," Dov said, tilting his head to the side in thought. "You know they got pretty close after the Jerry thing and then Andy going away on assignment."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later Holly found herself sitting in a second hard plastic chair, this time set up beside Gail's hospital bed, her fingers clasped around the woman's pale fingers loosely. Dark brown eyes scanned over Gail's face, taking in the soft lines of her cheeks and the short strands of blonde hair that tickled the woman's forehead as she slept peacefully, the thump of her heartbeat playing reassuringly from the heart monitor.

"You scared me." Holly whispered softly, bending her head to press her lips over the back of Gail's hand before smoothing her thumb across the sensitive skin of the woman's knuckles. "I thought I told you that you weren't allowed to get shot?"

"Didn't mean to," Gail grumbled roughly, her eyes blinking open slowly to take in the sight of Holly's tired red rimmed eyes and dishevelled hair. "Sorry."

"Gail," Holly sighed happily, her lips quirking upwards into a bright smile, her hand tightening around Gail's fingers. "You're awake."

"Didn't mean to worry you," Gail repeated slowly, pinching her eyes closed. "Why are you fuzzy?"

"It's the painkillers honey," Holly reassured gently, gripping Gail's hand gently lifting it to press another tender kiss against the woman's skin. "They've got you on some pretty strong meds."

"Oh," Gail muttered, blinking rapidly. "Oxy?"

"Better," Holly replied, her eyes shining with adoration as she watched Gail nod her head slowly, licking her lips before glancing down the length of the bed.

"I got shot." The blonde haired woman muttered shifting her free hand to press against her stomach, hissing as pain blossomed across her skin. "I didn't mean to."

"I know baby." Holly murmured as she rubbed her fingers across Gail's skin. "Just don't go doing it again, all right?"

Gail nodded her expression serious despite the dull gleam that filled her eyes. "I'll try."

* * *

"How's she doing?" Dov asked softly, stepping into the room, placing his hand gently on Holly's shoulder. "Out of it again?"

"She has been since they moved her in here." Holly answered softly; brushing her fingers across Gail's cheek, soothing the frown on the woman's sleeping lips. "The meds are playing havoc with her."

Dov laughed softly, shaking his head as he leaned down to place a soft kiss on the top of Gail's forehead. "Don't tell her I did that, she'd skin me alive," He muttered quietly. "I think alcohol is the only drug that she can handle in high dosages, she takes children's quantities of most over the counter drugs."

"No wonder she's higher than a kite on oxy then." Holly chuckled, her eyes shimmering with amusement. "Is Chris with you?"

"Nah," Dov murmured. "He's swinging by the apartment with Traci to pick up some things for you and Gail, Chloe and Andy are coming as soon as shift ends and Oliver is probably already on the way here."

Holly nodded slowly, her mind working overtime to put the names to the faces. "What about Sam?"

"I expect he'll be with Andy," Dov answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "I don't really know, I didn't see him when I swung by the Division, but knowing Oliver he's got word to everyone by now."

Holly hummed quietly in the back of her throat. "I still haven't yelled at her."

"She probably needs to be awake for you to yell effectively." Dov muttered. "She looks far too peaceful to yell at right now anyway."

"Those are pretty much my thoughts." Holly agreed rubbing her hand across her eyes as exhaustion buffeted her system. "She already apologised for getting shot though."

"Typical Gail," Dov snorted rolling his eyes as he settled into the spare chair on the other side of Gail's bed.


End file.
